⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home.^(A) May the Lord show you kindness,^(B) as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands^(C) and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest^(D) in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed^(E) them goodbye and they wept aloud^{(F) 10} and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?^{(G) 12} Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up?^(H) Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter^(I) for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!^(J)”

¹⁴ At this they wept^(K) aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law^(L) goodbye,^(M) but Ruth clung to her.^(N)

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law^(O) is going back to her people and her gods.^(P) Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^(Q) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,^(R) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^(S) and your God my God.^{(T) 17} Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(U) if even death separates you and me.”^{(V) 18} When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.^(W)

¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.^(X) When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred^(Y) because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”